Police killed Mampong Nursing tutor ‘intentionally’

Authorities of the Mampong Nursing and Midwifery Training College in the Ashanti Region have given a different account of the shooting to the death of a human anatomy tutor of the school together with his brother by the police.

The school authorities say the police were unprofessional as they fired more than once at the unarmed suspects.

The school has thus petitioned the Inspector General of Police (IGP), John Kudalor, to ensure that 33-year old Francis Gbeneh and his brother Timothy Gbeneh, 28, get the justice they deserve.

According to the account of the police, the two were mistaken for robbers and shot.

The Ashanti Regional Police PRO, ASP Mohammed Tanko said, “Early this morning [Wednesday] at about 2:00am, there was a distress call from the Mampong Midwifery Training School to the effect that some armed robbers were attacking the home there, so a patrol team was dispatched to deal with the situation and according to the men on patrol, when they got to the scene, they were told that the robbers had just taken a particular route.”

ASP Tanko added that, while the team pursued the route the robbers had allegedly taken, “they saw a motorbike moved with speed so their thinking was that, those were the robbers so they pursued them and tried as much as possible to stop them but they did not stop.”

He went on to say that “the person who was sitting behind the motor rider [The Pillion rider] had something [An object] in his hand; and he turned towards the police; so when the person was turning, they mistook the turn to be that he was turning to shoot so they quickly fired. Later on, it was discovered that they were not the criminals but they were people who were running around trying to get assistance for the victims who were attacked by the robbers,” he concluded.

But at a news conference held on Thursday by management of the Mampong Midwifery Training College, the Vice Principal of the College, Mercy Poku, said they suspect foul play because circumstances surrounding the shooting were quite bizarre.

“We ask for an independent investigation team to look into this matter. We strongly believe that if on this particular occasion, if the police were a bit more professional, this incident wouldn’t have happened. We seek for justice.”
Mrs. Mercy Poku narrated the incident that led to the killing in front of the College’s administration block.

“Around 1:00am, the tutor called another tutor to call the police and the police patrol team came around to the Bungalow. According to her, the policemen on arrival asked her and the other occupant to go inside the house and lock the gate. The police gave two warning shots at the back of the bungalow after they had searched the bungalow after they had searched the place and jumped into their car and went away. The two security men who were on duty at the school’s administration and witnessed the shooting incident said around 3:00am, they heard multiple gunshots and then they saw the occupants of the motorbike fell and the vehicle stopped. Policemen then came out of the car and one of them made a phone call. After making the call, another police officer walked closer corked the gun and fired the victims that were lying on the floor. They then carried them into the bucket of the vehicle together. After about twenty minutes, the police scene returned to the scene and picked some things from the ground and came back for the third time and left.”

The school authorities are seeking for justice and demanding an independent investigation into the incident, as they allege the police officers who shot Francis and Thaddeus Gbeneh did so intentionally.

“In the morning, seven bullet shells were picked from the scene and another one found given to the BNI. The multi-billion question is whom did the police call? Why did the police keep firing when the victims were not firing back,” She quizzed.

Similar cases

This is not the first time the police have shot and killed civilians recklessly.

In February 2015, a student of St. Pauls SHS at Denu in the Volta Region who was not armed was killed by a police officer who shot straight into his skull during some student disturbances.

In September 2013, two police officers were painfully killed by their colleague police officers who claimed they were chasing some suspected robbers.

In most of these cases, not much has been heard about the actions taken against such reckless officers.